March 2, 2012

Local Member of Congress Embarrasses Himself

And in an unfortunate exchange during a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on contraception, a confused Republican congressman, Rep. Tim Murphy of Pennsylvania, falsely accused HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of lying about the administration's policy, and argued that understanding whether the morning-after pill is an abortification is a "religious" question, not a scientific one.

Embarrassingly, to Murphy religious opinion trumps science.You can see the video posted at Murphy's youtube page:

After stating that some employers object to paying for a plan that requires abortifacients to be included in the plan (that's about 15 seconds in). At about 42 seconds there's this (h/t to Thinkprogress) :

SEBELIUS: There also is no abortifacient drug that is part of the FDA approved contraception. What the rule for preventive care…

MURPHY: Ma’m that is not true.

SEBELIUS: Well the scientists -

MURPHY: Is the morning after pill or something like that an abortifacient drug? Yes or no?

SEBELIUS: It is a contraceptive drug -

MURPHY: Yes or no?

SEBELIUS: It is not an abortifacient. It does not interfere with a pregnancy. If the morning pill were taken, and a female were pregnant, the pregnancy is not interrupted. That’s the definition of abortifation.

MURPHY: Ma’m that is your interpretation, and I appreciate that’s your interpretation.

SEBELIUS: That’s what the scientists and doctors-

MURPHY: We’re not talking about scientists. Ma’m we’re not talking about scientists here, we’re talking about religious belief. Ma’m, I’m asking you about a religious belief.

SEBELIUS: The definition of an abortifacient-

MURPHY: In a religious belief, that is a violation of a religious belief.

So to Tim Murphy, when the science says one thing (that "morning after" pills prevent conception and do not interfere with a pregnancy already taking place) and religion says another, religion triumphs.

Christian religions teach abstinence. Thanks for the clarification about the morning after pill.

I remember watching a small segment of that particular session. I did not watch the whole session so please excuse my ignorance.

Was the excerpt in this blog part of the debate over Obama's executive order concerning contraceptives?

If it was, the Republicans opposed the executive order by stating it was forcing religious institutes to do something against their beliefs --like distributing contraceptives. Republicans called it a violation of freedom of religion.